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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-09-27 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Auditor-General's Report

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (15:03): Amongst the spin, the words from this government over the last couple of days, what we have seen is a report tabled in this parliament yesterday that has laid bare the claims that have been put by the Premier time and time again in terms of the Auditor-General's access to cabinet documents in South Australia. What we know unequivocally is that that access has changed. That is now abundantly clear. The Auditor-General has set that out in his report to this parliament yesterday, making it as crystal clear as can be that the arrangements have most certainly changed.

What is more galling is the fact that instead of accepting the Auditor-General's advice the Labor Party has doubled down. The Premier has doubled down. His defence, of course, is the fact that cabinet confidence is sanctimonious. It is higher than anything in the land. But let's go back and take a step down the road from which we got here.

The Labor Party, as a matter of convention, had been providing cabinet submissions, cabinet documents, to the Auditor-General as a matter of course without any problems until we hit the time of 2016 when, as was pointed out earlier today, the then Deputy Premier, John Rau, took issue with providing these documents. Instead, in the dying years of that then Weatherill government, but for a small patch right at the end, decided that no more. The access was cut off. There was no more access to cabinet submissions for the Auditor-General to undertake his lawful duties to this very parliament.

Where we sat through the term of the Liberal government was that a Premier's Circular was put in place to again allow and facilitate the Auditor-General's access to these documents that he requires—PC047. As was pointed out again this morning, when the Auditor-General asked for a document it was provided to him to undertake his duties. We have an election. Things change. No more. No more access. Cut off. Thirty-two submissions the Auditor-General has asked for since the change of government and zero of those have been provided to him.

What does he request these documents for? Well, any member in this house—backbench, side or otherwise—should know and understand the very things that this parliament ask him to look into and to sign off on, in order to understand that due and proper process has taken place, to understand that Treasurer's Instructions around financial authority have been undertaken appropriately. These are not small, insignificant things that the Auditor-General is tasked with delivering and assuring this parliament of having been done correctly.

Of those 32 submissions that the Auditor-General has requested since the change of government, he notes in his report that they are in regard to the two biggest infrastructure projects in our state's history: the north-south corridor project and the new Women's and Children's Hospital. A combined value of $18 billion of public taxpayer money is going to be expended, yet we do not have confidence in this very parliament, nor do the people of South Australia, that due and proper process has been undertaken or that financial authority has been given appropriately. That is the legacy of this government. That is the legacy of this Premier. Is that the legacy that he wants: to ensure that an independent officer reporting to the parliament is impeded, is frustrated, from carrying out his duties requested of him by this very parliament?

It is absurd. It is absurd that we have got to this point where we are leaving question marks over the state's biggest projects simply through this epiphany that the Labor Party suddenly has, despite providing cabinet submissions to the Auditor-General previously and despite coming to a point in time that they did do that between 2017 and 2018. But, no, now that rides supreme. It cannot be done. This is just bogus, absolutely bogus. What is this Premier trying to hide? You have to ask yourself that question. But there is one thing for certain: this is scandalous and this parliament needs to stand up to this Premier.

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